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chantaal's Reviews (2.32k)
Super disappointing, feels like sapphic romantasy in graphic novel form and if that concept works for you, you’ll probably enjoy this. The focus in this overly long graphic novel is on the sapphic romance, which is nicely done, but everything else fell to the wayside. The side characters were nearly indistinguishable from one another - one example is how each queen’s brother was the same happy go lucky dude, only one was white and one was brown. It had the most generic political palace plot you can think of. The anxiety rep felt alright though it seemed like it fell away toward the end, rather than seeing it truly be worked on.
The art is the biggest let down here. This is manga in color, but even most manga these days at least has a background in each panel. 90% of the art was a character set against a solid color background with no indication of space or time. It felt very amateur.
I was really looking forward to this one, alas.
The art is the biggest let down here. This is manga in color, but even most manga these days at least has a background in each panel. 90% of the art was a character set against a solid color background with no indication of space or time. It felt very amateur.
I was really looking forward to this one, alas.
P. Djèlí Clark has rapidly become an author I'm always interested in. He has a great imagination that centers black characters in fantasy, and I know he's always going to come up with some cool worldbuilding and character dynamics.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a ton of fun, and takes place in a fantasy world that is so richly described and built. We follow our main character Eveen, who is not a cat nor does she have a tail, but she is dead and she is an assassin. After a job goes wrong and she suddenly has memories of a past life she's not supposed to remember at all, the plot kicks off.
As I've already said, the world building is grand. Clark really knows how to build a world up around a character as they move through it and interact with other characters within it. He's fantastic at showing, not telling, and it's fun to find out about this world as Eveen's story unfolds.
Though the world building is strong, there are other aspects of the novel that didn't work as well for me. This feels like a madcap sort of story; it moves along at a strong pace that is steady but also feels very rushed at times. Additionally, I wasn't a huge fan of the humor or tongue-in-cheek character work. I never really felt totally connected to all the characters, which was unfortunate because the story itself was interesting as it unfolded.
This is a pretty fun novel, in the end. I would highly recommend this for readers who love plot driven stories, and who are looking for a fun new fantasy world with fun characters to read about.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for providing this ARC for review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins just had its publish date pushed back to August 6, 2024.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a ton of fun, and takes place in a fantasy world that is so richly described and built. We follow our main character Eveen, who is not a cat nor does she have a tail, but she is dead and she is an assassin. After a job goes wrong and she suddenly has memories of a past life she's not supposed to remember at all, the plot kicks off.
As I've already said, the world building is grand. Clark really knows how to build a world up around a character as they move through it and interact with other characters within it. He's fantastic at showing, not telling, and it's fun to find out about this world as Eveen's story unfolds.
Though the world building is strong, there are other aspects of the novel that didn't work as well for me. This feels like a madcap sort of story; it moves along at a strong pace that is steady but also feels very rushed at times. Additionally, I wasn't a huge fan of the humor or tongue-in-cheek character work. I never really felt totally connected to all the characters, which was unfortunate because the story itself was interesting as it unfolded.
This is a pretty fun novel, in the end. I would highly recommend this for readers who love plot driven stories, and who are looking for a fun new fantasy world with fun characters to read about.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for providing this ARC for review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins just had its publish date pushed back to August 6, 2024.
This was everything I could have hoped for and I just love Bennett’s imagination, I JUST LOVE IT.
What to say about this, when RJB's imagination is so rich and weird and lovely to walk through? This is a murder mystery set in a world where kaiju-like sea creatures constantly try to breach massive seawalls put up to protect the land, where plants are used as building material and to enhance people's abilities, where a murder mystery is kicked off when a man is killed by having a weird tree sprout from inside of him.
The character work is great here. We follow Din, who is an apprentice investigator to Ana, who has her own eccentricities that lead to the Holmes comparisons. Din has been enhanced in a way where he uses smell to remember everything, which is so interesting? Especially when we learn that he has a reading disability on top of it - likely dyslexia. There are plenty of other side characters that are well drawn out, each one laying another brick in the absolutely solid world building.
The murder mystery itself was really good, and while I could see where some of it was going, there were moments that I was pleasantly blindsided. The mystery did plenty more service toward the world building, and that's where RJB's strengths lie in his novels. He's not just an infodumper; while there are narrative moments like that, every little part of his books and characters help draw out a solid picture of the world he sets his story in.
I cannot WAIT for the rest of this series, I'm all in. I also want to go back and re-read City of Stairs and finish out that trilogy, since I never got to it back in the day.
What to say about this, when RJB's imagination is so rich and weird and lovely to walk through? This is a murder mystery set in a world where kaiju-like sea creatures constantly try to breach massive seawalls put up to protect the land, where plants are used as building material and to enhance people's abilities, where a murder mystery is kicked off when a man is killed by having a weird tree sprout from inside of him.
The character work is great here. We follow Din, who is an apprentice investigator to Ana, who has her own eccentricities that lead to the Holmes comparisons. Din has been enhanced in a way where he uses smell to remember everything, which is so interesting? Especially when we learn that he has a reading disability on top of it - likely dyslexia. There are plenty of other side characters that are well drawn out, each one laying another brick in the absolutely solid world building.
The murder mystery itself was really good, and while I could see where some of it was going, there were moments that I was pleasantly blindsided. The mystery did plenty more service toward the world building, and that's where RJB's strengths lie in his novels. He's not just an infodumper; while there are narrative moments like that, every little part of his books and characters help draw out a solid picture of the world he sets his story in.
I cannot WAIT for the rest of this series, I'm all in. I also want to go back and re-read City of Stairs and finish out that trilogy, since I never got to it back in the day.
This was a damn effective graphic novel. Spare art, stark reporting, no nonsense, lets you understand the depth of the disaster and the toll it took on New Orleans and the people who called it home.